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“Because my shoulders are stiff.” Lutecia rolled them. “I may watch my pace and stamina distribution properly, but I still get sore shoulders.”

“I don’t know, it’s pretty late already….”

“Oh come on.” Lutecia turned away from him and glanced over her shoulder. Hooking her fingers under the straps of her top, she slowly slid them down her arms before gathering her hair and bringing it over one shoulder so it draped down her chest. “Pleeease?”

Erio gave a little groan, but the sight of her exposed, delicate looking skin drew him in completely. “Okay, okay.”

Lutecia shivered briefly at the different in temperature of their flesh when Erio placed his hands on her shoulders. He began to knead them slowly and gently, gradually increasing his speed and grip strength as time passed.

“Mmmm… So good… Yes, right there… harder!”

“Stop that.” Erio frowned, eyes darting around to make sure no one would pop in. Even so, he still savoured the sensation of Lutecia’s soft, creamy, flawless skin.

“I can’t help it.” Lutecia stuck out her tongue. “Your technique is amazing.”

“… Even if we all did get taken out in the end…” Erio added with a chuckle.

“Oh you just had to spoil it.” Lutecia faked a sigh. “You have no idea what it’s like to get hit by a flying fist of rock… Though I’m not sure how to feel about it… Should I whine that I lost, or should I gloat that the device I made Corona was perfect?”

“I’d go with the latter.” Erio offered.

“Gloat it is then! You certainly have gloating rights too, Erio.”

“How so?”

“You went toe to toe with Fate-san and you came out on top! Well… sorta… for a little bit… Still, you did great against her.”

“Sure you didn’t, Erio.” Lutecia grinned back at him. “You had absolutely no desire to see Fate-san’s glorious body. I know full well what a huge crush you have on her.”

“I used to…” He muttered. Plus, it’s not like he hadn’t seen Fate completely naked before.

“Can’t say I blame you, though.” Lutecia went on. “Such a dynamite figure, huge breasts, great hair… If you want to ogle her I understand, but I wish you’d recognise my charm once in awhile.”

“I do recognise it.” He said, gathering himself together and lowering his voice. “After all, it was that charm that made me fall for you in the first place.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against the bare side of her neck.

“… So, you do know how to put the moves on me…” She whispered.

“I’d do it more often if you weren’t always taking the lead before I can…”

“Me? Take the lead? You mean like this?” Lutecia leaned back forcibly, pinning the boy between herself and the couch.

“Lu…!?” Erio’s yelp was cut off as Lutecia spun herself around and pressed her lips to his.

“Sorry, I’m just the kind of girl who takes what she wants.” When she stuck out her tongue again, this time Erio shot up and brought his to meet it.

‘I can be that kind of guy too, you know.’ Erio told her telepathically.

‘Oh? I like a good challenge.’

Their tongues entered a heated battle as they fought for dominance, only ceasing when they had to break for air.

“Okay, how about we call it a draw?” Lutecia huffed contently.

“No rematch?” Erio grinned.

“Not tonight.” Lutecia softly brushed her nose over his before sitting up. “We should go before…”

“Erio, where are…?” Fate entered the room to be greeted by the sight of Lutecia straddling Erio, both wearing ruffled clothes.

“Uh, Fate-san, this…”

“Wha… What are you two doing?!” Fate’s face exploded in red and her arms began flailing in the air. “I-It’s too early for you to do such things! And to do it here when anyone could walk in, what were you thinking! Do it in private and make sure you have protection! I mean, don’t do it at all! Save it for when you’re older! I mean I haven’t even… No, wait, that doesn’t matter, just… You can’t okay?!”

Lutecia stared at the hysteric woman before looking down at Erio and sighing dramatically.

“Damn it, she’s adorable! How am I supposed to beat that?!”

Fate easy to embarrass, aren`t she? Hmm, what will she do when Erio and Lu decide to go further in their relationship?

The couple nodded appreciatively before the husband went to reach for his wallet.

"Sir, it's late... and I have to get home as soon as I can. If it isn't any trouble, can I just come by tomorrow?"

"That's no problem, Miss Sera..." the man said, smiling sadly. "I'll drop it off with Amy here, and you can come by before going to school."

"Thanks, sir!" the babysitter said, her expression brightening before she took her leave of the couple.

The couple spent a few minutes viewing the doorway of their home silently before the brown-haired woman finally closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, at least we know she's a great babysitter..."

She turned to her husband, and gasped as she saw him with an ineffably sad expression on his face... so she wasted no time in going around him and engulfing him with her arms with an embrace from behind.

"Oh, Chrono... I'm sorry..."

"He taught me everything I know... I would have been less than half as good if it wasn't for him..."

"...you want to talk more about it?" Amy asked her husband.

He nodded at his darling wife wistfully. "Yeah..."

"Let's get out of these stuffy clothes, first," she said, winking.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown cracked his first smile of the day then before leading his wife Amy Limietta-Harlaown to their bedroom.

"You know, I never thought of Hayate-chan being vindictive," Amy began as she wiggled around, trying to get to the zipper of her black dress.

"She's really not... but those two familiars looked like their lives played through their eyes when they found out their contracts were passed on to Hayate from the old Admiral," Chrono replied, assisting his wife in finding and pulling down the annoying zipper.

"Do you think Hayate-chan would hurt them?" Amy asked, gasping as her husband got a little bit frisky before unsnapping her brassiere.

"She's not going to do anything. Every time she looks at them, they're going to be reminded of what they've done, and that, for me, is a million times worse than if she worked them to death, used them for target practice, anything," Chrono answered before tossing aside his pants.

Several minutes later, while the couple were rinsing off a rather heated shower that served as the appetizer to the night's main course, Amy went back to what they had been talking about.

"Admiral Graham lived a long and fruitful life, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. Never mind all the stunts he pulled, all the under-the-table dealing... never mind that the only way he got me to be serious about my magical career was by mentioning my father's memory..."

"...and Hayate-chan."

Chrono grunted. "She's already forgiven those two, but somehow, there's still a part of her that wants to hurt them back..."

"How do you know this?" Amy asked as she dried off her husband.

"Because I feel the same way, too," he answered as he took the other towel and reciprocated his wife's actions. "Maybe I should have a talk with her about this. Get her to admit that she still hates them for what they did to her those years ago. Hopefully, she's still as wise as back then for her to realize that getting back at the two girls is never worth it."

"What would be worth it then?" Amy asked, her expression changing.

"How about we try for another?" Chrono asked.

"Deal," Amy said as she took her husband by the hand and walked over to their bed.

***

Morning had finally arrived.

After an exhausting night of intimate contact, Admiral Chrono Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau wearily dragged himself out of bed and went to his portable command console after doing the rituals of day's start.

As soon as he had booted up the laptop that was his direct line to the data banks in his TSAB office, notifications began to spring up - after all, he did take a week off from his work. Someone important to him and the Bureau did, after all, shuffle off his mortal coil.

It took him a hastily-made breakfast and a cup of coffee to get through most of the usual business that an Admiral of the TSAB would have to go through, but by the time the cup of coffee was empty, he was down to one notification.

Intrigued, he clicked on the strange link that came from his office's personal file.

"Your personal file has been updated. The time lock on Directive 11-2309A has passed."
That's funny, Chrono thought. Directives under those are ranked-SSS, not even for someone of my rank. Why would someone want to give me this file?

He gasped when he saw the names of the undersigned.

Admiral Lindy Harlaown.

Admiral Gil Graham.

Gone but not forgotten was a most apt note, Chrono thought. But what would have gotten Mother to cooperate with Admiral Graham after the "Tome of the Night Sky" incident?

He read the abstract.

And then he paled.

He hurriedly went back to his bedroom to get his uniform on. The appropriate personnel would have to be notified. A ship had to be requisitioned, supplied, and manned for an operation of this magnitude.

In the midst of his frenzy of preparing, one thought passed through his mind.

Mother... Graham... how?

Why have you kept this from us for so long?

He looked at the invitation card for the funeral held yesterday for the man he considered to be his mentor (aside from his mother), but no answers would come.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown thus began his day preparing for an off-the-books TSAB intervention.

So... Apparently Erio managing to "tag" Fate in ViVid doesn't count because it wasn't a battle that was done logically and was just meant for fanservice.

(Even though, you know, as an Enforcer, Fate spends a lot of time flying in ships, doing paperwork, sitting at a desk and occasionally going out to fight physically and magically, while Erio, as a "ranger" of sorts, spends his time dealing with magical creatures that are extremely dangerous and (most likely) deals with poachers of these creatures, so he's far more physically active than Fate is.)

So... I gotta make fun of that attitude somehow...

Spoiler for Fate:

"Looks like you still have trouble against skilled opponents, Testarossa."

"It's not like I lost to someone who was inexperienced at least."

"True. Unlike that time That Thing beat you with at Starlight Breaker."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Or when those cyborgs pushed you to your limits."

"...I get it."

"Or when you needed your children's help to snap out of your anguish..."

"...You wanna... Step outside?"

"Gladly."

"...I'll get the bandages ready... Try not to hurt Fate-chan too much, Signum."

"Even you, Hayate?"

"Sorry, Fate-chan... You really haven't won any fights for the longest time."

"...Nanoha?"

"Um... Vivio, how about we go over here where we won't need to talk at all?"

So... Apparently Erio managing to "tag" Fate in ViVid doesn't count because it wasn't a battle that was done logically and was just meant for fanservice.

(Even though, you know, as an Enforcer, Fate spends a lot of time flying in ships, doing paperwork, sitting at a desk and occasionally going out to fight physically and magically, while Erio, as a "ranger" of sorts, spends his time dealing with magical creatures that are extremely dangerous and (most likely) deals with poachers of these creatures, so he's far more physically active than Fate is.)

So... I gotta make fun of that attitude somehow...

Spoiler for Fate:

"Looks like you still have trouble against skilled opponents, Testarossa."

"It's not like I lost to someone who was inexperienced at least."

"True. Unlike that time That Thing beat you with at Starlight Breaker."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Or when those cyborgs pushed you to your limits."

"...I get it."

"Or when you needed your children's help to snap out of your anguish..."

"...You wanna... Step outside?"

"Gladly."

"...I'll get the bandages ready... Try not to hurt Fate-chan too much, Signum."

"Even you, Hayate?"

"Sorry, Fate-chan... You really haven't won any fights for the longest time."

"...Nanoha?"

"Um... Vivio, how about we go over here where we won't need to talk at all?"

"Sorry, Fate-mama."

"Mou... Even you, Vivio?"

Erio does fight poachers in SSX

But yeah, I can't say I respect people saying things like that. All it does is give the impression that they'll cling to any weak excuse to justify Fate losing. Saying it was just for fanservice is ridiculous as proven from the reaction itself: Fate losing is being seen as a fan dis-service instead. Heck, if they really wanted to have Fate lose clothing, why didn't they just have Nanoha blast it off? They picked Erio for a reason other than just "we need some one to take Fate's clothes off."

Subaru exhausted by her work and mental suffering comforted by Cinque.

Sister`s help

Spoiler for Show:

The last week was very hard for newly-promoted lieutenant Subaru Nakajima. Subaru always knew that being in command was a hard task, but she never suspected that it would be so hard for her. In the beginning Subaru was happy that her superior officer recognized her efforts to maintain peace and saving peoples in distress, but then all the hardships of being in command crashed down on her. In the very first day she was forced to solve a problem with supplies for her squad. After this almost immediately the new lieutenant got in quarrel with another squad, whose equipment got transferred to Subaru’s own. And this wasn’t the hardest task that Subaru Nakajima was forced to meet after her promotion.

Her relationship with her underlings was much better thought. Her involvements in JS incident make her quite famous in the low ranks, and thus no one blamed their commander for squad troubles. That was quite convenient, because Subaru really was exhausted from bickering with superiors to have additional problems with her own men.

But Subaru didn’t surrender to circumstances and her efforts paid off. She started to get used to the commanding officer role and moreover her family started to help her.

Her father managed to organize a stable line of supply for her unit, her older sister Ginga offered her help with reports and her little sister Wendi lent a hand with training sessions. Slowly Subaru started to gain experience and, more importantly, gain confidence in herself and her abilities.

She has this confidence just until the day when she received information that lieutenant-general Hayate Yagami died in terrorist bombing.

Subaru was crushed. Totally. She lost count of time when she just sat in her chair and stared blankly at the floor. Only one thought pulsed inside of her tired mind: she failed.

Again.

She failed to protect her commander… no, her friend. Just like six years ago she failed to protect Captain Nanoha Takamachi. The Zarotoria Incident when a local insurgent group came to poses powerful physical weapons that had the ability to penetrate any form of magical protection. Many enforcers and soldiers of the ground forces died trying to stop the terrorists. The situation grew more dangerous when insurgents unleashed drones armed with even more powerful weapons and, which was even worse, extremely powerful AMF-generators. Those drones weren’t equipped with anti-gravity generators and instead moved on six independent wheels - they were slower and not so agile as JS drones but better armed and well protected.

In order to solve this problem main HQ sent their best soldiers with Nanoha Takamachi as their commander.

Using newly developed TSAB psychical weapons and Nanoha’s commanding skill they managed to shift the power balance in TSAB’s favor. But still every victory came with a great price. In order to avoid further loses Captain Nanoha utilized all available Intel resources to find the enemy’s main base. But despite their best efforts enemy’s lair was found with the help of Nanoha’s new friend – Catherine de Volga, who managed to track terrorist supply lines directly to their base.

In the desperate battle TSAB forces managed to achieve crushing victory over the insurgents. But the price of this was horrific.

Only half of the assault troops survived, and only half of this number was able to avoid incurable injuries. Large blocks of a city sustained enormous damage and thousands of people lost their homes and jobs.

And Captain Nanoha Takamachi died during this battle. The person she admired and looked up to, one of her best friends died and she was totally unable to help her.

Subaru herself witnessed the horrible scene – in the middle of a store-room, in the pool of her own blood lay the mutilated corpse of Ace of Ace. The Cyborg-girl was so terrified and shocked that she didn’t see the unconscious form of Catherine who lay near Nanoha’s body. Subaru didn’t remember at all what occurred after that. But, as she was told by a sobbing Catherine, soldiers found her staying on her knees, hugging Nanoha’s body tightly and crying desperately. Six bulky soldiers were absolutely unable to take Captain Takamachi’s body from her until they made her come to her senses.

And now the story repeated itself. Her friend was killed again and Subaru Nakajima wasn’t there to help. It was too much for her.

It was only the start, as a few days after incident unpleasant rumours started to pop up in the newspapers and on the news: news about the corrupted relationship between Hayate and her main rival – Director Auris Gaiz of Department of Interdimensional Intelligence and Support.

After this everything started to fall apart. Her every movement was supervised by higher-ups. Every day the door of her office was occupied by crowds of reporters until she gave strict orders not to let any civilian in, but they instead started to ambush her on her home’s door. Her relationship with neighbouring squads became sour when she heard how they gleefully insulted Hayate. She couldn’t believe how easily people could forget someone’s good deeds and replace their admiration with spite.

Subaru came to home only after 1 AM, exhausted bitter and utterly devastated. She slowly unbuttoned her coat and put it on hanger. Subaru turned around and her blue eyes meet worry-filed yellow eyes of her younger sister – Nove Nakajima. Nove wore just her panties and a long red sweater.

“Su?” Her voice was quite low, as if she was afraid to scare Subaru away. “Are you alright?”

Subaru nearly yelled “How can I be alright?!” but held herself down – Nove was worried about her and totally didn’t deserve to be yelled at.

“No. I’m not.” Subaru tripped and almost fell but managed to stand. Moments after a pair of strong hands caught her own. Then Nove pulled Subaru up to herself.

“How is it?” The redhead whispered rubbing Subaru hands with her thumbs soothingly.

“Bad!” It was strong emphasis in this simple word.

“Today I had a meeting with Major Rawl Carcery – agent of Interdimensional Security Departament – he investigated Hayate-san case.” She let out a long sigh.

“But it seems they are more concerned about those rumors. It’s bad Nove…” Subaru voice started to tremble. “… everyone who was connected with Hayate-san is now under tight supervision. Well, I suppose you already know that.” Subaru smiled sadly. Nove nodded grimly and said.

“Last two days were very unpleasant. I called off my sparring session with Vivio because of those freaks that scuttled around after us. And damn I can’t even see Einhart for the same reason.”

Subaru felt a twinge of guilt – everybody knew how deeply Nove cared for Ein and how strong her bound with Vivio was (to the point where Wendi made a joke that Nove need to graw a spine to ask for Vivio’s hand) and to be forced to not see them – she was so wrapped in her own pain that she didn’t stop to notice her own sisters’ pain.

She reached her right hand out and patted Nove’s head gently.

“Don’t worry Nove, somehow we will get through it. I promise you.”

Nove give her a little sad smile.

“Where is dad?”

“He said he would stay at work for the night. It’s become a habit of his already.” Subaru sighed for her father’s situation was much worse than her’s. As Hayate’s mentor he got the largest dose of berating and unpleasant attention from both superior officers and the media. And now his position and reputation was in great danger and thus now he barely visited the home. Moreover, doing this he tugged most of reporters’ attention away from home and his daughters.

Nove nodded again and then yawned unintentionally.

“Sleepy girl.” Giggled Subaru.

“Hey!” Nove crossed her arms on her chest and frowned. “I’m barely younger than you…” She didn’t end her sentence because Subaru leaned forward and hugged her.

“You need a rest, Nove. Please, you’re tired and tomorrow you will need as much strength as you have.”

Nove’s expression softened as she nodded, then she hugged her sister back.

“Thanks sis. You know it’s a first time I’m glad that Ginga went on her mission into deep space.”

Subaru can’t help but agree – despite missing her dear older sister she was glad that those annoying scoop-chasers couldn’t reach her outside Mid-Childa.

Subaru leaned back and taking a glance down hallway asked. “I suppose Wendi and Dieci are already sleep?”

“Yes they are, just like Cinque-nee.”

“Cinque-nee already returned from her mission?” Subaru’s eyes grew a little wider.

“Yup, she returned four hours ago and was so tired both because of the mission and the jerks that she almost immediately went to bed.”

“I see, then we shall do the same. Good night Nove.”

“Good night Subaru.”

Nove let her older sister go, give her a little nod and went to her room.
“How could you Subaru?” A gentle voice filled with sadness and despair flowed around her, filling everything like air. “Why did you abandon me?”

Before the terror paralyzed girl appeared a painfully familiar face – the face of Nanoha Takamachi. Normally it beamed with happiness and hidden strength, but now it was an almost lifeless blue-ish skin mask soaked with crimson-red tears. Her pure white barrier jacket was tattered and covered in blood.

“W-why Subaru?” She pleaded, reaching both of her arms forward, forcing the barely alive out of horror and guilt girl to make two quick steps backward. “Weren’t we friends? How could you, w-what did I do to you?” Now Nanoha whimpered mixing her pleas with heart breakening sobs.

“N-no, Nanoha-san.” Subaru answer’s was barely louder than a whisper. “I didn’t want this to happening. I tried to reach you… I… I…”

Suddenly Nanoha let out an ear-tearing scream and a heartbeat after her body exploded, splashing Subaru with the stream of blood. The last thing she witnessed was a countless cacked teeth, bursting out of body of her friend.
Subaru almost suffocated on her own scream. She sat straight in her bed coughing, choking out gobs of saliva. Apparently the only reason that she wasn’t vomiting was the lack of food in her stomach. Subaru lifted her right hand and wiped her mouth. Her heart throbbed like a sledgehammer and threatened to crack her ribs, her entire body trembled and she realised that her cheeks were wet with tears.

This nightmare. This dreadful dream tormented her for an entire year when Nanoha died.

Hayate’s death apparently reawakened it.

The Cyborg-girl pulled her blanket tightly to her chest, as if she tried to shield herself with it. She didn’t know for how long this dream would again become her nightly guest.
Still, she totally deserved to lose her peaceful dreams – she failed and because of that she became an accomplice of the killers.

She giggled darkly – what did she expect from herself anyways? Wasn’t she the product of an illegal experiment? A freak.

“Subaru.” The soft voice reverberated through the entire room with a force of thunder to Subaru’s ears. When she quickly turned her head around her gaze stopped at tiny silver-haired figure.

“Cinque-nee?” Second oldest Nakajima sister didn’t wait for permission and walked toward Subaru’s bed. She stopped when the gap between them was only a half of a metre.

“What’s wrong?”

Subaru forced herself to give her sister a small reassuring smile.

“Unpleasant dream. Nothing really wrong.” Her sisters already had more than enough problems and Subaru definitely didn’t want Cinque to think about her own troubles.

“You lie.” Cinque narrowed her single eye. “I suppose this dream is only the tip of your problems, isn’t it? You know I had a talk with Dieci, Wendi and Nove today and when I was on the mission I contacted dad and Ginga.”

Cinque sat on the corner of Subaru’s bad and reached out, cupping Subaru’s face with both of her hands.

“Tell me, Subaru, what’s wrong. Everybody’s worried about you. Dieci said the last few days you barely talked to them; Wendi said that your work situation is even worse because you often space out, blabbering something. And during the nights you’re moaning, whimpering and leaking tears.”

“Doesn’t that mean they’re sneaking into my room? This is sexu…” Subaru tried to joke, but her words died when Cinque gently rubbed her face.

“Don’t Subaru. Don’t try to hide it. The death of Commander Hayate affected you very much. You lost your spirit, your courage and now you’re slowly falling apart. Please don’t cast us away Subaru, we are your family, we won’t abandon you.”

The word “abandon” made something inside Subaru to snap. Tears bursted out of her eyes as she lumped down in Cinque embrace. For few minutes silence in the room was disturbed only by Subaru’s chokes and Cinque humming. When Subaru managed to lift her face to meet Cinque gaze, the elder Nakajima gently started to wash off her tears with her thumbs.

The last sentence seemed to eat away her mustered strength and Subaru again broke in tears. Now Cinque held her for a much longer period of time. Then she started to speak softly.

“You’re not a monster Subaru. Nor are you a killer.” She slowly raised Subaru’s head, forcing her wavering blue eyes meet her yellow eye. “You’re a wonderful and kind-hearted girl who loves her friend and her family members more than anything and your anguished tears are proof of this. I can’t say anything about Zaratoria Incident but I think in general Hayate’s case you can’t blame yourself. You can’t watch over her every second of every day.”

Subaru frowned, but Cinque didn’t allow her to interrupt her.

“I know what you want to say – what purpose is in my work if I won’t try to save anybody I can reach – but Subaru, you can’t reach everyone and you can’t bear responsibility for everyone. That’s plain arrogance. And most importantly, Subaru – you’re not a monster.” Cinque voice suddenly became hoarse and low. “Because I’m a monster.”

Subaru eyes widened on this sentence. Cinque give her a wry smile.

“I killed many people, when I served under my first father – Dr. Scaglietti. And yes, despite that I really love Nakajima-san and now view him as my father, I will not forget about the doctor. Subaru I want to say something to you – I was in the unit that ambushed Zest Grangaitz and his subordinates.” Subaru gasped in realization. “Yes Subaru, I was there when your mother died. I didn’t deliver a finishing blow to Quint Nakajima, but I was the one who created the situation. So you can trust me – I know how to recognize a killer. He must be just like me.” She chuckled grimly and slowly brought her left hand to Subaru’s eyes.

“Do you see it, Subaru - it’s a murderer’s disgusting hand. You know, no matter how many times I wash it, when I sniff it, it still reeks of blood. And yours.” Cinque took Subaru hand by her own and raised it. “Your strong arms saved many peoples, and you never use them to take someone’s life away. So please...” Cinque felt how her own eyes start to leak. ” Please don’t say such things, I can’t bear hearing you call yourself a monster. If you’re so afraid to became a monster just don’t became like me.” Cinque stood, letting Subaru go.

“We’re always here for you Subaru – me, Wendi, Dieci and Nove. You don’t need to face your suffering alone. And we will face any troubles together. Even such a fiend like me can’t let her beloved little sister suffer. I’ll stay here and wait until you fall asleep, so don’t worry – I’ll chase all of bad dreams away.

She prepared to go for the chair that stood in the corner of the room but then she felt pair of strong arms circling around her waist and a powerful jerk sent her into Subaru bear hug.

“You’re not a fiend Cinque-nee. Monsters never come to my room and sooth me. And a fiend would never bother herself to protect me in my sleep, or work so hard to deserve forgiveness. You’re too a wonderful and caring a person, Cinque-nee.”

Subaru put her chin on Cinque’s right shoulder and pulled the smaller girl’s arms to her face.

“What a beautiful hands. So soft and small.” Cinque felt how her blood streamed toward her cheeks and Subaru giggled witnessing elder girl confusion. “These gentle arms held me and caressed me and I often see then holding a book that you’re reading to Dieci or Wendi. And I don’t sense any trace of blood in the air.” To prove her words Subaru take a deep inhale. “Whoa, isn’t that Gin-nee’s favourite raspberry soap?” Cinque blushed even harder and now Subaru let a soft laugh.

Subaru’s warmth threatened to burn her away, it felt so good that the silver-haired girl barely suppressed a moan of delight.

“Thank you Subaru. You can’t imagine how I needed those words.”

“You’re welcome Cinque-nee. Aren’t we sisters?”

Cinque wanted to stand but then Subaru gently pulled her back, when Cinque turned her head in surprise she saw that Subaru’s cheek stained with red.

“Uh… Cinque-nee, can I ask you a favour?”

“Um, of course.” Nodded Cinque.

“Can you sleep with me tonight? I… I know how stupid it sounda, and you have every right to reject and…”

Cinque give her sister a broad smile.

“No, I’m more than glad to spend a night hugging something as cute as you.” In her voice appeared playful traits, now it was a Subaru’s turn to blush even harder.

Subaru crawled back, allowing her sister to lay sideway from her. Then both sisters wrapped arms around each other’s and pull themselves close. Feelings of warmth and love burned all remaining tears in Subaru’s eyes and she rapidly started to descent in the deep sleep.

“Good night Subaru.” Whispered Cinque.

“Good night, Cinque-nee.” Smiled Subaru.

Two girls soon fell asleep and for the entire time neither of them was tormented by nightmares.
***
AN: We always see sisterly bonds between Subary and Ginga, but how about her relationship with another. My favorite is Cinque so I decide to write about them.
But Nakajima sisters shouldn`t get their guard down, because Catherine lurking in the shadows.

Subaru exhausted by her work and mental suffering comforted by Cinque.

Sister`s help

Spoiler for Show:

The last week was very hard for newly-promoted lieutenant Subaru Nakajima. Subaru always knew that being in command was a hard task, but she never suspected that it would be so hard for her. In the beginning Subaru was happy that her superior officer recognized her efforts to maintain peace and saving peoples in distress, but then all the hardships of being in command crashed down on her. In the very first day she was forced to solve a problem with supplies for her squad. After this almost immediately the new lieutenant got in quarrel with another squad, whose equipment got transferred to Subaru’s own. And this wasn’t the hardest task that Subaru Nakajima was forced to meet after her promotion.

Her relationship with her underlings was much better thought. Her involvements in JS incident make her quite famous in the low ranks, and thus no one blamed their commander for squad troubles. That was quite convenient, because Subaru really was exhausted from bickering with superiors to have additional problems with her own men.

But Subaru didn’t surrender to circumstances and her efforts paid off. She started to get used to the commanding officer role and moreover her family started to help her.

Her father managed to organize a stable line of supply for her unit, her older sister Ginga offered her help with reports and her little sister Wendi lent a hand with training sessions. Slowly Subaru started to gain experience and, more importantly, gain confidence in herself and her abilities.

She has this confidence just until the day when she received information that lieutenant-general Hayate Yagami died in terrorist bombing.

Subaru was crushed. Totally. She lost count of time when she just sat in her chair and stared blankly at the floor. Only one thought pulsed inside of her tired mind: she failed.

Again.

She failed to protect her commander… no, her friend. Just like six years ago she failed to protect Captain Nanoha Takamachi. The Zarotoria Incident when a local insurgent group came to poses powerful physical weapons that had the ability to penetrate any form of magical protection. Many enforcers and soldiers of the ground forces died trying to stop the terrorists. The situation grew more dangerous when insurgents unleashed drones armed with even more powerful weapons and, which was even worse, extremely powerful AMF-generators. Those drones weren’t equipped with anti-gravity generators and instead moved on six independent wheels - they were slower and not so agile as JS drones but better armed and well protected.

In order to solve this problem main HQ sent their best soldiers with Nanoha Takamachi as their commander.

Using newly developed TSAB psychical weapons and Nanoha’s commanding skill they managed to shift the power balance in TSAB’s favor. But still every victory came with a great price. In order to avoid further loses Captain Nanoha utilized all available Intel resources to find the enemy’s main base. But despite their best efforts enemy’s lair was found with the help of Nanoha’s new friend – Catherine de Volga, who managed to track terrorist supply lines directly to their base.

In the desperate battle TSAB forces managed to achieve crushing victory over the insurgents. But the price of this was horrific.

Only half of the assault troops survived, and only half of this number was able to avoid incurable injuries. Large blocks of a city sustained enormous damage and thousands of people lost their homes and jobs.

And Captain Nanoha Takamachi died during this battle. The person she admired and looked up to, one of her best friends died and she was totally unable to help her.

Subaru herself witnessed the horrible scene – in the middle of a store-room, in the pool of her own blood lay the mutilated corpse of Ace of Ace. The Cyborg-girl was so terrified and shocked that she didn’t see the unconscious form of Catherine who lay near Nanoha’s body. Subaru didn’t remember at all what occurred after that. But, as she was told by a sobbing Catherine, soldiers found her staying on her knees, hugging Nanoha’s body tightly and crying desperately. Six bulky soldiers were absolutely unable to take Captain Takamachi’s body from her until they made her come to her senses.

And now the story repeated itself. Her friend was killed again and Subaru Nakajima wasn’t there to help. It was too much for her.

It was only the start, as a few days after incident unpleasant rumours started to pop up in the newspapers and on the news: news about the corrupted relationship between Hayate and her main rival – Director Auris Gaiz of Department of Interdimensional Intelligence and Support.

After this everything started to fall apart. Her every movement was supervised by higher-ups. Every day the door of her office was occupied by crowds of reporters until she gave strict orders not to let any civilian in, but they instead started to ambush her on her home’s door. Her relationship with neighbouring squads became sour when she heard how they gleefully insulted Hayate. She couldn’t believe how easily people could forget someone’s good deeds and replace their admiration with spite.

Subaru came to home only after 1 AM, exhausted bitter and utterly devastated. She slowly unbuttoned her coat and put it on hanger. Subaru turned around and her blue eyes meet worry-filed yellow eyes of her younger sister – Nove Nakajima. Nove wore just her panties and a long red sweater.

“Su?” Her voice was quite low, as if she was afraid to scare Subaru away. “Are you alright?”

Subaru nearly yelled “How can I be alright?!” but held herself down – Nove was worried about her and totally didn’t deserve to be yelled at.

“No. I’m not.” Subaru tripped and almost fell but managed to stand. Moments after a pair of strong hands caught her own. Then Nove pulled Subaru up to herself.

“How is it?” The redhead whispered rubbing Subaru hands with her thumbs soothingly.

“Bad!” It was strong emphasis in this simple word.

“Today I had a meeting with Major Rawl Carcery – agent of Interdimensional Security Departament – he investigated Hayate-san case.” She let out a long sigh.

“But it seems they are more concerned about those rumors. It’s bad Nove…” Subaru voice started to tremble. “… everyone who was connected with Hayate-san is now under tight supervision. Well, I suppose you already know that.” Subaru smiled sadly. Nove nodded grimly and said.

“Last two days were very unpleasant. I called off my sparring session with Vivio because of those freaks that scuttled around after us. And damn I can’t even see Einhart for the same reason.”

Subaru felt a twinge of guilt – everybody knew how deeply Nove cared for Ein and how strong her bound with Vivio was (to the point where Wendi made a joke that Nove need to graw a spine to ask for Vivio’s hand) and to be forced to not see them – she was so wrapped in her own pain that she didn’t stop to notice her own sisters’ pain.

She reached her right hand out and patted Nove’s head gently.

“Don’t worry Nove, somehow we will get through it. I promise you.”

Nove give her a little sad smile.

“Where is dad?”

“He said he would stay at work for the night. It’s become a habit of his already.” Subaru sighed for her father’s situation was much worse than her’s. As Hayate’s mentor he got the largest dose of berating and unpleasant attention from both superior officers and the media. And now his position and reputation was in great danger and thus now he barely visited the home. Moreover, doing this he tugged most of reporters’ attention away from home and his daughters.

Nove nodded again and then yawned unintentionally.

“Sleepy girl.” Giggled Subaru.

“Hey!” Nove crossed her arms on her chest and frowned. “I’m barely younger than you…” She didn’t end her sentence because Subaru leaned forward and hugged her.

“You need a rest, Nove. Please, you’re tired and tomorrow you will need as much strength as you have.”

Nove’s expression softened as she nodded, then she hugged her sister back.

“Thanks sis. You know it’s a first time I’m glad that Ginga went on her mission into deep space.”

Subaru can’t help but agree – despite missing her dear older sister she was glad that those annoying scoop-chasers couldn’t reach her outside Mid-Childa.

Subaru leaned back and taking a glance down hallway asked. “I suppose Wendi and Dieci are already sleep?”

“Yes they are, just like Cinque-nee.”

“Cinque-nee already returned from her mission?” Subaru’s eyes grew a little wider.

“Yup, she returned four hours ago and was so tired both because of the mission and the jerks that she almost immediately went to bed.”

“I see, then we shall do the same. Good night Nove.”

“Good night Subaru.”

Nove let her older sister go, give her a little nod and went to her room.
“How could you Subaru?” A gentle voice filled with sadness and despair flowed around her, filling everything like air. “Why did you abandon me?”

Before the terror paralyzed girl appeared a painfully familiar face – the face of Nanoha Takamachi. Normally it beamed with happiness and hidden strength, but now it was an almost lifeless blue-ish skin mask soaked with crimson-red tears. Her pure white barrier jacket was tattered and covered in blood.

“W-why Subaru?” She pleaded, reaching both of her arms forward, forcing the barely alive out of horror and guilt girl to make two quick steps backward. “Weren’t we friends? How could you, w-what did I do to you?” Now Nanoha whimpered mixing her pleas with heart breakening sobs.

“N-no, Nanoha-san.” Subaru answer’s was barely louder than a whisper. “I didn’t want this to happening. I tried to reach you… I… I…”

Suddenly Nanoha let out an ear-tearing scream and a heartbeat after her body exploded, splashing Subaru with the stream of blood. The last thing she witnessed was a countless cacked teeth, bursting out of body of her friend.
Subaru almost suffocated on her own scream. She sat straight in her bed coughing, choking out gobs of saliva. Apparently the only reason that she wasn’t vomiting was the lack of food in her stomach. Subaru lifted her right hand and wiped her mouth. Her heart throbbed like a sledgehammer and threatened to crack her ribs, her entire body trembled and she realised that her cheeks were wet with tears.

This nightmare. This dreadful dream tormented her for an entire year when Nanoha died.

Hayate’s death apparently reawakened it.

The Cyborg-girl pulled her blanket tightly to her chest, as if she tried to shield herself with it. She didn’t know for how long this dream would again become her nightly guest.
Still, she totally deserved to lose her peaceful dreams – she failed and because of that she became an accomplice of the killers.

She giggled darkly – what did she expect from herself anyways? Wasn’t she the product of an illegal experiment? A freak.

“Subaru.” The soft voice reverberated through the entire room with a force of thunder to Subaru’s ears. When she quickly turned her head around her gaze stopped at tiny silver-haired figure.

“Cinque-nee?” Second oldest Nakajima sister didn’t wait for permission and walked toward Subaru’s bed. She stopped when the gap between them was only a half of a metre.

“What’s wrong?”

Subaru forced herself to give her sister a small reassuring smile.

“Unpleasant dream. Nothing really wrong.” Her sisters already had more than enough problems and Subaru definitely didn’t want Cinque to think about her own troubles.

“You lie.” Cinque narrowed her single eye. “I suppose this dream is only the tip of your problems, isn’t it? You know I had a talk with Dieci, Wendi and Nove today and when I was on the mission I contacted dad and Ginga.”

Cinque sat on the corner of Subaru’s bad and reached out, cupping Subaru’s face with both of her hands.

“Tell me, Subaru, what’s wrong. Everybody’s worried about you. Dieci said the last few days you barely talked to them; Wendi said that your work situation is even worse because you often space out, blabbering something. And during the nights you’re moaning, whimpering and leaking tears.”

“Doesn’t that mean they’re sneaking into my room? This is sexu…” Subaru tried to joke, but her words died when Cinque gently rubbed her face.

“Don’t Subaru. Don’t try to hide it. The death of Commander Hayate affected you very much. You lost your spirit, your courage and now you’re slowly falling apart. Please don’t cast us away Subaru, we are your family, we won’t abandon you.”

The word “abandon” made something inside Subaru to snap. Tears bursted out of her eyes as she lumped down in Cinque embrace. For few minutes silence in the room was disturbed only by Subaru’s chokes and Cinque humming. When Subaru managed to lift her face to meet Cinque gaze, the elder Nakajima gently started to wash off her tears with her thumbs.

The last sentence seemed to eat away her mustered strength and Subaru again broke in tears. Now Cinque held her for a much longer period of time. Then she started to speak softly.

“You’re not a monster Subaru. Nor are you a killer.” She slowly raised Subaru’s head, forcing her wavering blue eyes meet her yellow eye. “You’re a wonderful and kind-hearted girl who loves her friend and her family members more than anything and your anguished tears are proof of this. I can’t say anything about Zaratoria Incident but I think in general Hayate’s case you can’t blame yourself. You can’t watch over her every second of every day.”

Subaru frowned, but Cinque didn’t allow her to interrupt her.

“I know what you want to say – what purpose is in my work if I won’t try to save anybody I can reach – but Subaru, you can’t reach everyone and you can’t bear responsibility for everyone. That’s plain arrogance. And most importantly, Subaru – you’re not a monster.” Cinque voice suddenly became hoarse and low. “Because I’m a monster.”

Subaru eyes widened on this sentence. Cinque give her a wry smile.

“I killed many people, when I served under my first father – Dr. Scaglietti. And yes, despite that I really love Nakajima-san and now view him as my father, I will not forget about the doctor. Subaru I want to say something to you – I was in the unit that ambushed Zest Grangaitz and his subordinates.” Subaru gasped in realization. “Yes Subaru, I was there when your mother died. I didn’t deliver a finishing blow to Quint Nakajima, but I was the one who created the situation. So you can trust me – I know how to recognize a killer. He must be just like me.” She chuckled grimly and slowly brought her left hand to Subaru’s eyes.

“Do you see it, Subaru - it’s a murderer’s disgusting hand. You know, no matter how many times I wash it, when I sniff it, it still reeks of blood. And yours.” Cinque took Subaru hand by her own and raised it. “Your strong arms saved many peoples, and you never use them to take someone’s life away. So please...” Cinque felt how her own eyes start to leak. ” Please don’t say such things, I can’t bear hearing you call yourself a monster. If you’re so afraid to became a monster just don’t became like me.” Cinque stood, letting Subaru go.

“We’re always here for you Subaru – me, Wendi, Dieci and Nove. You don’t need to face your suffering alone. And we will face any troubles together. Even such a fiend like me can’t let her beloved little sister suffer. I’ll stay here and wait until you fall asleep, so don’t worry – I’ll chase all of bad dreams away.

She prepared to go for the chair that stood in the corner of the room but then she felt pair of strong arms circling around her waist and a powerful jerk sent her into Subaru bear hug.

“You’re not a fiend Cinque-nee. Monsters never come to my room and sooth me. And a fiend would never bother herself to protect me in my sleep, or work so hard to deserve forgiveness. You’re too a wonderful and caring a person, Cinque-nee.”

Subaru put her chin on Cinque’s right shoulder and pulled the smaller girl’s arms to her face.

“What a beautiful hands. So soft and small.” Cinque felt how her blood streamed toward her cheeks and Subaru giggled witnessing elder girl confusion. “These gentle arms held me and caressed me and I often see then holding a book that you’re reading to Dieci or Wendi. And I don’t sense any trace of blood in the air.” To prove her words Subaru take a deep inhale. “Whoa, isn’t that Gin-nee’s favourite raspberry soap?” Cinque blushed even harder and now Subaru let a soft laugh.

Subaru’s warmth threatened to burn her away, it felt so good that the silver-haired girl barely suppressed a moan of delight.

“Thank you Subaru. You can’t imagine how I needed those words.”

“You’re welcome Cinque-nee. Aren’t we sisters?”

Cinque wanted to stand but then Subaru gently pulled her back, when Cinque turned her head in surprise she saw that Subaru’s cheek stained with red.

“Uh… Cinque-nee, can I ask you a favour?”

“Um, of course.” Nodded Cinque.

“Can you sleep with me tonight? I… I know how stupid it sounda, and you have every right to reject and…”

Cinque give her sister a broad smile.

“No, I’m more than glad to spend a night hugging something as cute as you.” In her voice appeared playful traits, now it was a Subaru’s turn to blush even harder.

Subaru crawled back, allowing her sister to lay sideway from her. Then both sisters wrapped arms around each other’s and pull themselves close. Feelings of warmth and love burned all remaining tears in Subaru’s eyes and she rapidly started to descent in the deep sleep.

“Good night Subaru.” Whispered Cinque.

“Good night, Cinque-nee.” Smiled Subaru.

Two girls soon fell asleep and for the entire time neither of them was tormented by nightmares.
***
AN: We always see sisterly bonds between Subary and Ginga, but how about her relationship with another. My favorite is Cinque so I decide to write about them.
But Nakajima sisters shouldn`t get their guard down, because Catherine lurking in the shadows.

Thank 00-Raiser for beta reading. You`re life-saver.

I really liked the part with Subaru and Cinque. Made me feel all warm of fuzzy Good job.

But yeah, I can't say I respect people saying things like that. All it does is give the impression that they'll cling to any weak excuse to justify Fate losing. Saying it was just for fanservice is ridiculous as proven from the reaction itself: Fate losing is being seen as a fan dis-service instead. Heck, if they really wanted to have Fate lose clothing, why didn't they just have Nanoha blast it off? They picked Erio for a reason other than just "we need some one to take Fate's clothes off."

Moczo and I were just shooting the breeze when the idea of my version of Due meeting his version of Sette came up...

And look at what happened!

Spoiler for My Due and Moczo's Sette:

Sette: Unknown child is possessed of excess energy, consumes food at an unsafe rate, and insists on speaking at a volume several decibels above a comfortable speaking voice. However, occasionally displays hints of a more sensible, pleasant personality, which is comforting. In addition, she is extremely effective in lowering the household population of mice and similar small pests. Overall assessment: satisfactory.

Due: You're a bland face! Did you know that people with bland faces don't have as many friends? Mice have bland faces, they have no friends either. But they're not as bad as the rats. Rats have the angry face all the time and attack you when you don't look at them. My butt still hurts from those three... OOOH! A penny!

Sette: New objective: Obtain protection for gluteal muscles to prevent rat bites. Secondary Objective: Assign child to collection of extra funds, as she seems to have both aptitude and passion for it.

Due: You remind me of Tre, she was always "Huuurrrr, you need to be more serious" all the time while frowning. You know that she's a frowny face? She's going to end up with wrinkles if she's not careful and then how will she get anyone to want to look at her? Puppy!

Sette: Oh, thank you. Tre was an excellent commander, skilled in field tactics while also capable of managing the battle on a strategic level. I someday hope to surpass her scores in aerial combat simulation program 002-20.

Oh. Puppy. Hello, puppy.

Due: *nods* Tre was smart when she fought, but then she could be really stupid too. Did you know that her first mission had her exploding a cake factory? And I mean there was cake EVERYWHERE! There was chocolate sauce over the cherries, and that was good, but the chocolate sauce over the cherries in the teriyaki sauce was bad. Did you know that Linseed Oil is poisonous? I know, cuz I used it to cook once when I was under cover and I made this mean person get sick and then he fell over dead and Where did the puppy go?

Sette: ... I question both the purpose and validity of this anecdote. For now, I will assume that the cake factory in question was providing aid and comfort to the enemy and its destruction was a mission objective you were not privy to.

Did the recipe call for Linseed Oil? If not, you should not have used it. I often follow recipes, and the resulting pancakes are possibly excellent and have not to date caused any fatalities.

Commencing Operation: 'Puppy Hunt'. We shall begin combing the blocks in a grid pattern, checking off each 'square' as we determine it's current population of stray dogs...

Due: I'm not sure... I think that the Doctor just wanted us to, in his words, screw with people. But why screw with people if you don't use screws? It's really hard to screw someone unless you use screws and a power drill to drive them through the hands. I mean, how can you screw with someone like that? And, no, it didn't, but I was told to poison the guy, so, I did and it was really smelly and messy when it was done. You can make pancakes?! Oooh! I want one! Hey, did you know that that restaurant throws out lots of pancakes? They're always so hard and black and one time, it had these blue things on them that were sweet! But it was crunchy, and then I didn't feel good for a day. Did you know that water from the ocean is salty?

Sette: I propose we form a subcommittee to vote on the members of a committee to investigate the ocean for the purposes of proving or disproving your claims. If time remains following the investigation's closure, we will attempt to determine a use for the excess screws.

If you desire a pancake, I believe the original model is still available in the kitchen. For some reason it does not appear to bio-degrade to any meaningful degree no matter how much time passes. I believe this is a sign it is high in fiber.

Due: *Blinks* Why would we want a subcommittee to vote on a committee? It's because of things like that are the reasons why I killed those brains. The fluids were nasty! Why did I lick my claws? That was yucky! And pancakes?! I hope that it's better than that one I found in the garbage by the one lady's house. She's always so mean, throwing kitties at me and PUPPY! I see the puppy!

Sette: *Shudder* The child is an agent of chaos...

I am fairly certain it is better than a garbage pancake, because it is not in the garbage. It has been thrown in the garbage, but somehow continues to get out. This possibly indicates it has been fortified with vitamins. Oh, puppy. Hello, puppy.

... ... ... I have no first aid skills. My options to prevent an infection are to fly you to a medical facility, or start a fire and cauterize the wound. Which would you prefer?

Due: Fire hurts... I know, I started one once by accident and then I touched it and it burned and I think my arm still has some burn mark on it or something, cuz I had to run and... Ugh... I feel icky...

Sette: Medical facility it is, then. The Saint Church has facilities for dealing with Cyborg medical needs, and I believe our sisters should be present to oversee the treatment. I will have to leave you in their care while I re-commence my efforts to euthanize that dangerous animal.

Have... have you ever played 'Blood Zombies 2'? Wendi is fond of it and... and you can play it while they make pizza for you. If you would like, we could... we could do that. After my mission, when your hand feels better.

Due: *Smiles and hugs Sette* Okay! Maybe we can have lots more fun together!

The limping woman, wearing the greens of a forest ranger, barely managed to dodge the fireballs the creature was spitting, but she had just backed into a large boulder that left her nowhere else to run; and the creature had dropped to all fours, preparing to pounce and finish off its prey. (Too many splices. That last bit could be its own sentence "to run. The creature had...")

keeping the it in (remove 'the')

and the resistance use (could use)

wants you so badly and if the rumors (remove 'and')

and shoved it into Janja's stomach, shoving her away. (use 'push' instead of 'shove' again to vary things up)

her lips turning into a hungry grin, almost appearing v. (v? If you mean looking like the letter v, try "almost appearing in the shape of a v")

Well the obvious answer to who the eye patch person is would be Cinque, but that's a bit too obvious. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess it's actually Vice's little sister Laguna! She has eye trouble, and could pick up marksmanship skills from her brother. Either her, or Freid's presence suggests it could be Erio and Caro's daughter.

“Because my shoulders are stiff.” Lutecia rolled them. “I may watch my pace and stamina distribution properly, but I still get sore shoulders.”

“I don’t know, it’s pretty late already….”

“Oh come on.” Lutecia turned away from him and glanced over her shoulder. Hooking her fingers under the straps of her top, she slowly slid them down her arms before gathering her hair and bringing it over one shoulder so it draped down her chest. “Pleeease?”

Erio gave a little groan, but the sight of her exposed, delicate looking skin drew him in completely. “Okay, okay.”

Lutecia shivered briefly at the different in temperature of their flesh when Erio placed his hands on her shoulders. He began to knead them slowly and gently, gradually increasing his speed and grip strength as time passed.

“Mmmm… So good… Yes, right there… harder!”

“Stop that.” Erio frowned, eyes darting around to make sure no one would pop in. Even so, he still savoured the sensation of Lutecia’s soft, creamy, flawless skin.

“I can’t help it.” Lutecia stuck out her tongue. “Your technique is amazing.”

“… Even if we all did get taken out in the end…” Erio added with a chuckle.

“Oh you just had to spoil it.” Lutecia faked a sigh. “You have no idea what it’s like to get hit by a flying fist of rock… Though I’m not sure how to feel about it… Should I whine that I lost, or should I gloat that the device I made Corona was perfect?”

“I’d go with the latter.” Erio offered.

“Gloat it is then! You certainly have gloating rights too, Erio.”

“How so?”

“You went toe to toe with Fate-san and you came out on top! Well… sorta… for a little bit… Still, you did great against her.”

“Sure you didn’t, Erio.” Lutecia grinned back at him. “You had absolutely no desire to see Fate-san’s glorious body. I know full well what a huge crush you have on her.”

“I used to…” He muttered. Plus, it’s not like he hadn’t seen Fate completely naked before.

“Can’t say I blame you, though.” Lutecia went on. “Such a dynamite figure, huge breasts, great hair… If you want to ogle her I understand, but I wish you’d recognise my charm once in awhile.”

“I do recognise it.” He said, gathering himself together and lowering his voice. “After all, it was that charm that made me fall for you in the first place.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against the bare side of her neck.

“… So, you do know how to put the moves on me…” She whispered.

“I’d do it more often if you weren’t always taking the lead before I can…”

“Me? Take the lead? You mean like this?” Lutecia leaned back forcibly, pinning the boy between herself and the couch.

“Lu…!?” Erio’s yelp was cut off as Lutecia spun herself around and pressed her lips to his.

“Sorry, I’m just the kind of girl who takes what she wants.” When she stuck out her tongue again, this time Erio shot up and brought his to meet it.

‘I can be that kind of guy too, you know.’ Erio told her telepathically.

‘Oh? I like a good challenge.’

Their tongues entered a heated battle as they fought for dominance, only ceasing when they had to break for air.

“Okay, how about we call it a draw?” Lutecia huffed contently.

“No rematch?” Erio grinned.

“Not tonight.” Lutecia softly brushed her nose over his before sitting up. “We should go before…”

“Erio, where are…?” Fate entered the room to be greeted by the sight of Lutecia straddling Erio, both wearing ruffled clothes.

“Uh, Fate-san, this…”

“Wha… What are you two doing?!” Fate’s face exploded in red and her arms began flailing in the air. “I-It’s too early for you to do such things! And to do it here when anyone could walk in, what were you thinking! Do it in private and make sure you have protection! I mean, don’t do it at all! Save it for when you’re older! I mean I haven’t even… No, wait, that doesn’t matter, just… You can’t okay?!”

Lutecia stared at the hysteric woman before looking down at Erio and sighing dramatically.

“Damn it, she’s adorable! How am I supposed to beat that?!”

Ha! That was great, especially Fate's meltdown and Lutecia's last line!

Nanoha awoke and sat up, rubbing her eyes as the last vestiges of her dream began to fade. Or rather, perhaps nightmare would have been more appropriate, but for whatever reason, it hadn't been as bad as some of the ones she had experienced when staying with Erio. She wondered if perhaps the uncertainty and doubt over her departure from Yuuno and Shari's house had affected her mental state, and now that she was finally on the path to finding Vivio, her higher spirits were translating into better sleep.

Still, she had experienced a small fraction of the previous nightmare, the white background and the blurry, unrecognizable face, but none of the desperation or anguish of imminent death. [My subconscious is probably focusing in on that face, but why am I even having this reoccurring dream in the first place?]

She shook her head and began packing up camp after a quick breakfast; trying to figure this out now was just leading her in circles, so she shelved those thoughts for later; right now, she had to focus on her journey. She had been traveling for a couple of days now, but couldn't even guess at how far she would have to go before she reached wherever it was that her daughter had hidden herself. Of course, the questions of why that was and what part in all this her daughter played were also mysteries, but at least they were ones that Nanoha would have answers to in time.

As it had become habit, Nanoha brought out Raging Heart and asked for directions once she was ready to go, a pink arrow appearing on the red jewel after a few moments. That was how the directions came; instead of telling her outright, the information gained from Asclepius merely enabled Raging Heart to work like a compass, but substituting north for her daughter's concealed location. In truth, she had realized she was traveling in a more southwesterly direction, but could only vaguely guess at how far she'd actually have to travel.

But she figure out the possible reason Lutecia had this particular method; if the Bureau gained access to it, they'd still be relegated to following like Nanoha was, and thus their approach would give Vivio ample warning to slip away if need be.

At times she could barely contain her excitement, taking short flight hops over more difficult and rolling terrain when she noticed the sky was clear of drones. Only two patrols of sentinels had come anywhere near her in the two days she had been traveling, but both times, they had moved rather quickly giving her very little time to hide, so she was always wary to make sure she wasn't discovered.

She adjusted her pack as she crested a hill, wondering how her daughter had grown over the years and what she looked like now, when she heard a cry somewhere in the distance. Nanoha knew right away it didn't belong to an animal, as she had grown used to hearing those. Curious about it sounding more human in nature, she made sure the area was clear and then leapt into the air when the scream echoed again, allowing her to quickly pinpoint the source of the distress.

There, in a small clearing several dozen meters from the base of the tall hill, a large barely-humanoid figure with large bat-like wings was chasing a woman. Nanoha recognized the creature as a gargoyle as she flew in, activating Raging Heart and her barrier jacket while dropping her backpack along the path. The limping woman, wearing the greens of a forest ranger, barely managed to dodge the fireballs the creature was spitting, but she had just backed into a large boulder, leaving her nowhere else to run, and the creature had dropped to all fours, preparing to pounce.

Nanoha didn't waste time shifting Raging Heart from its standard Axel Mode as she flew in, firing off a dozen Axel Shooter magic missiles. The creature jumped to the side, partially shielding itself with a large wing as the pink rain hammered at it, but the action failed to draw its attention from the woman. It continued with a few more jumps, than rapidly ran in an arc to avoid the follow-up shots, coming back at the woman with a frightening speed, its razor-sharp jaws dripping with saliva. Her salvo spent, Nanoha knew she'd never get off another volley, leaving her with only one option.

"Flash Move!" Raging Heart chirped.

Nanoha felt an inward sigh of relief that she made it just in time, appearing between the woman and the creature and blocking its sharp claws with a prepared Round Shield from her right hand. The gargoyle roared and spit another fireball that splashed against the barrier, but Nanoha's shield remained intact.

"Are you okay?" Nanoha asked over her shoulder without actually looking back. "Hold on a moment, and I'll deal with this."

Nanoha focused her magic through the shield, finally repulsing the creature, but as it hit the ground, it came in again on all fours, much angrier than before. Setting her feet in a firm stance and switching Raging Heart to Buster Mode, she prepared to fire while gathering her magic.

However, she never got the chance to fire.

"I'm fine," came the voice from behind, the tone lacking all the traces of the earlier fear.

Before Nanoha could question it, she felt something strike her back and voltage course through her body, sending her body into spasms as her muscles contracted of their own will. Raging Heart began to respond by regulating her magic into her auto-barrier to counteract it, but before it could do too much, the gargoyle had knocked the device from Nanoha's hand with a powerful swipe.

Then it was over, and the world tilted sideways as Nanoha's body gave up the struggle to remain upright, falling listlessly to the ground. As she stared up into the sky, the face of the woman filled it, her earlier expression of terror having been replaced by an amused grin. She was holding a small device with a short, red dagger formed of magic jutting from it, occasional sparks of electricity crackling along the blade, looking almost like some kind of taser.

"As I said, I'm fine," she repeated casually. "But you have a problem."

x~~*~~x

Hayate strode into the lab, hoping whatever news awaiting her would brighten her sour mood that had been in effect ever since learning of Yuuno and Shari's escape. It didn't make sense; they were in one of the most secure holding cells in Clanagan, and yet somehow managed to escape with nary a trace, except for the busted locks that her forensics experts had determined was due to a projectile weapon and those were tightly regulated and tracked.

So who would have one of those and still know enough about security to arrange such a stunt?

The Supreme Commander didn't know, but as Schach didn't know much and Carim's mind too far gone for even Rein to read, it meant Hayate was in a most sour mood; it almost felt like all possible avenues of information were closing off to her, leaving her in the dark about what was going on. And that was a position she keenly felt uncomfortable being in.

But as she took note of the equipment and various holograph screens scattered everywhere inside the lab, she hoped the news she had received indicated that the years of research and development had finally borne fruit. It would be just what she needed to brighten her day, and although at first glance there didn't seem to be anyone present, Hayate knew better.

"You wanted to see me?" Hayate spoke to the seemingly empty lab.

"Hayat-OW!" came a female voice to the tune of something slamming the middle examination table that caused it to shake slightly, and then Mariel Atenza slowly rose from behind it, rubbing her head.

"Are you alright?" Hayate inquired, moving to check the woman; even after all these years, the head scientist of her R&D division hadn't changed much.

Mariel chuckled nervously. "Eheh heh heh, I'm fine! I was just adjusting some of the components on the examination table, readying it for the transfer."

That got Hayate's full attention. "Were you able to completed both then?"

"Oh, yes!" the scientist replied, attitude seemingly changing as she walked over to one of the screens with a holographic keyboard and began typing. "Well, as much as possible, I think. See for yourself. Activating...."

Hayate turned as two cylindrical chambers opened to the side, displaying one clothed male and one female, their eyes closed. Hayate's heart jumped into her chest as she took a hesitant step forward, noting the faint traces of breathing that elevated them from mere inanimate figures, to real flesh-and-blood living beings; or as close as they could come, anyway.

"Shamal, Zafira..." she breathed, expecting them to come alive at any moment, but when they didn't, Hayate turned around. "I thought you said they were complete?"

"Almost," Mariel cautioned. "It wasn't an easy task, but per your instructions, I have done my best to recreate them. The physical shells were the easiest part, but it took some time to fashion artificial linker cores by taking some of yours, and then keeping that matrix intact during growth and implantation, which took a few years. But I had to create personality templates from scratch and then fill those with data, and that's what took the vast majority of time."

"So you really did it?" Hayate said in wonder, turning back to study the two reconstituted members of the Wolkenritter.

Even using files we had in storage, as well as your memories, there are still some holes, but they shouldn't pose too much of a problem.

"Close," Mariel admitted. "The personality matrices are still a bit incomplete. The Bureau had a lot of data on the Book of Darkness from before you became its mistress, and we had plenty of data on your knights from examinations afterward, but they aren't exact copies, either; we only had scattered memories on file and not even the addition of the information from your linker core nor your own memories completely fills out the blanks, so their personalities might be a bit off at first. But I've gone as far as I can in here. The next step would be to connect them with your device like Signum and Vita have been, and let them experience life. Anything they lack in personality and memories, will be made up with actual life experiences; it will just take some time for them to develop back to what they were."

Hayate brought out the Tome of the Night Sky, hesitating for only a moment before laying it down on the table; any price was worth having her family whole again. "How long will it take?"

Mariel began hooking the device up to her computer system. "A few days. I'd like to take this slowly and surely to make sure it's done right. It's a sensitive progress. I also have a few more of the upgrades and fail-safe programs you wanted installed ready, so I'd like to take this time and integrate them as well. I can provide you with another device in the meantime, if you like."

"No, that's alright," the mistress of the Wolkenritter replied, turning back to gaze at her two missing family members. "I understand. I'll check back daily to see how your progress is going, but in the meantime, I have some things to take care of."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Marial suddenly spouted as the Supreme Commander headed for the door. "You're due for your regular anti-aging treatment. I was supposed to remind you."

Hayate paused, thinking; Mariel's most famous invention made her feel a bit uncomfortable, since there was that lingering feeling in the back of her mind that people weren't supposed to live forever, but counter-balanced by her need to lead the Bureau. "I'll return later tonight for it. Don't worry, I won't delay it again like I've done before."

As Hayate turned her back and left the room, Mariel placed a hand in her white frock pocket while the corners of her lips turned upwards ever so slightly.

x~~*~~x

The mysterious woman wasted no time in snapping hand and ankle cuffs on the helpless Nanoha, the cloned mage's muscles still numb and unresponsive due to the powerful stunning magic; she couldn't even form words at the moment, to ask what was going on. She could just barely see the hunched-over gargoyle standing nearby, all traces of the earlier aggression gone, which meant it was never a threat to begin with. That led her to the conclusion that this was all a setup.

But why? For her? The woman didn't look familiar; Nanoha couldn't place the face or magical style with anyone she knew.

"Make sure she's secure, Janja," came a male voice from out of Nanoha's line of sight.. "We can't have our prize escaping on us. Not only is she worth a lot of money, but if we're right, we can nab that bigger prize."

[Bounty Hunters?] Nanoha wondered as Janja finished with the chains and steel binds.

"You're mages," Nanoha finally said at last, regaining some measure of control over her voice as her normal clothes returned. "If you turn me in, they'll take you, too."

"Not if we forgo the bounty in exchange for a promise to not draft us into the Bureau army," Jarm told her with a grin as the gargoyle picked Nanoha up and swung her over its shoulder, Nanoha finally seeing the man. "We've been hiding here for quite awhile, but our luck won't hold out forever. We're already wanted by the Bureau, so it's a matter of time. But if we have something suitably valuable to trade...."

Nanoha took the hint as the trio set off into the forest with her in tow, realizing from the way the gargoyle was acting and taking orders from Jarm, that it must be his summoned creature. "So what are you doing? You're not taking me to the Bureau now?"

"Not yet," the Jarm confirmed from his position just in front of her and the gargoyle. "We've spent the last couple of weeks tracking a certain prey, but every time, it's managed to evade our traps. But for some reason, it seems to be following you. We noticed a couple of days ago, and decided to use you as bait." He finally glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, and don't try anything funny or try to escape, or Goille will break your arms and legs."

"Do you know who I am?" Nanoha questioned in a calm, calculated voice.

Janja laughed from the front of the procession as they marched along a narrow forest path. "Seikou, the Starlight Destroyer. Supposed to have taken out not one, but two Bureau Armies in one shot, but you know how those legends get. You certainly don't look so tough. But ironically, that means you got a fairly large price put on your head, and we aim to collect."

Nanoha perceived an opening. "Yes, I'm fighting against the Bureau, along with many others, and the resistance use a couple of powerful mages like you. If you joined us and helped us bring down the Bureau, you wouldn't have to live in fear, nor make these deals."

To her surprise, the pair began to laugh, the male removing his fedora and wiping his forehead with his arm. "Now that's funny! Overthrow the Bureau? Ha! They've been in power a long time, and they'll continue to be for a whole lot longer. That Supreme Commander is one shrewd individual, having fended off attempts to remove her before; no one has gotten close. Despite what myths surround you, no one has that much power, to be able to take down the Bureau. No, the best thing for you is to keep your yap shut throughout all this; you'll stay in one piece at least."

Nanoha bit her lip and fell silent then, figuring further communication was pointless; the pair were obviously not going to listen. She had encountered similar stories all over; the Bureau had been in charge a long time, and entire generations of people had grown up under their umbrella. Most people had given up hope for anything better, and just settled for living day-to-day.

With these two in particular, it was quite evident the degree to which they had worked out not only her capture, but their plans for keeping their freedom. As she had learned from Erio and Lutecia, hiding here, while dangerous, worked very well. If they could secure their freedom, however, they would be able to leave this area and travel freely; an attractive prospect for wanted mages, Nanoha had to admit, being one herself.

So that only left her wondering exactly what prey they were seeking that she was supposed to serve as bait for. They refused to answer that question, and once again told her to be quiet or else they'd gag her, so Nanoha let it dropped and lapsed into silence once more, instead focusing her thoughts on how to escape.

Ironically enough, she was given a chance not too much later.

They hadn't traveled for too long, however, when their trip suddenly got interrupted. Janja, leading the small group as the person on point, was suddenly swept up into the air. For a split second, Jarm and Nanoha stared at the woman, caught in a tight net that hanging from a tree, before the retort of a bullet split the air and brought them out of their bewilderment. Just as Nanoha wondered what the target was, she felt the chains and cuffs around her ankles and lower legs loosen considerably. A second shot rang out, but the gargoyle had already reacted, spreading it's large left wing over Jarm, and the bullet pinged off it's tough, stone-like hide.

Still, Jarm hit the ground shortly thereafter and rolled off the trail and into the underbrush. "Goille, track where the shots are coming from and get them!"

Nanoha found herself roughly dropped to the ground as well, while Goille the gargoyle took to the air, noting that Jarm didn't seem to be watching her, but scanning the vicinity instead, looking for their mysterious attacker. Nanoha didn't know who was behind this, but apparently they were trying to help her and she wasn't about to let this chance go to waste; despite her arms still being locked behind her back, she managed to drag herself to her feet and take off running..

"Dammit!" Janja cursed, as she tried cutting the net with one of her magic daggers. "Jarm, stop her! She's getting away!"

Nanoha dove off the trail to the side as she heard him chant a spell, just in time for a tree next to her to split open and explode. She rolled through the brush, branches leaving red scratches along her arms and legs, but managed to come back upright while spitting out dirt and resuming her sprint. The sound of blood pumping echoed in her ears as she ran, feeling loud enough to where she was sure it was broadcasting her position, but it was more likely they could easily hear the cracking twigs and rustling bushes that she passed through. She realized that there was probably only one real way to escape their reach, and while risky, she'd have to chance it.

Nanoha activated Flier Fin, taking to the air to the sound of a large crash in the forest. Right after passing the tree tops, she caught the sight of a slightly larger tree tipping over in the distance from the edges of her peripheral vision. Nanoha glanced over just in time to see several more follow it like dominoes, but then she shifted her face forward again and concentrated on getting away.

Her combat instincts suddenly kicked in, however, and quickly pulled back a split second before a shape flew past her. Pausing, Nanoha gazed calmly at Janja floating several meters in front of her with a glowing red dagger in each hand. Her senses also told her there was something big floating behind her, and she didn't have to glance back to realize it was the gargoyle. A few quick mental calculations brought her to the same conclusion Janja had apparently already reached; even if Nanoha could out-fly the two, she couldn't do much, if any, attacking. They'd eventually get her.

"Part of me wants you to try," Janja told her, lips curling upwards slightly. "I understand that you're some kind of hotshot mage if the Bureau wants you so badly and if the rumors are even half true. But I'd never hear the end of it from Jarm if I let pleasure override business."

Nanoha nodded, and simply floated there limply as the two advanced on her, the gargoyle grabbing her arms while Janja bound her legs with magic, then took her back to Jarm.

"It was eyepatch again," he told them as they landed. "She's most likely crushed under the trees this time, though, so we shouldn't have to worry about her again."

"That's what you said the last two times," Janja nearly growled at him. "We should get moving to really try and lose her this time."

"Eyepatch?" Nanoha wondered aloud, wondering who it could be.

"None of your concern," Jarm informed her succiently. "And that was real stupid, trying to get away. Attempt it again, and we really will break some limbs. Apparently, you're worth more alive and in one piece, than dead... but not by much."

Nanoha took the hint and held her tongue as the group resumed their trek. Still, she occasionally glanced off to the side where dust could still be seen above the treetops and wondering what had become of her would-be savior.

x~~*~~x

"Ah, welcome to my humble abode!" Quattro greeted her visitor with a delightful smile. "What can I do for you?"

Teana kept her gaze steady, glancing around at the small quarters that doubled as the #4 cyborg's lab as she entered. "You know why I'm here; I heard the story from Nove. Why did you set my sisters up?"

"My goodness, I don't know what you mean," Quattro replied with an innocent tone, placing her hands on her cheeks in mock surprise.

"Please don't embarrass yourself by playing dumb," Teana nearly growled at her, but inwardly keeping her head; she knew getting information out of the cyborg wasn't going be easy and any chance she had would be gone if she lost her temper. "You said you'd cover for Nove, and you made up that fake evidence about Wendi. Why? Oh, before you answer, let me do this."

She brought out Cross Mirage, still in card form, and placed it on a nearby table attached to the wall, then stepped back while the device intoned, "Activating Cone of Silence."

Teana locked eyes with Quattro as an opaque orange barrier encompassed the pair, taking up most of the room. There, this barrier blocks all sound and images, so you can speak freely. I have no recording devices on me, but you can check if you would like. Anything you say will remain between us."

She knew Quattro would never say anything as long as it could be recorded, but it was also a calculated risk since Teana might not be able to prove anything Quattro said. Still, the cyborg seemed to appear a bit impressed by the actions.

"Well, well, you appear to be quite serious," Quattro remarked, making a show of flourishing her tan robe while sitting down on her couch in a grand manner. "But why should that matter to me?"

Teana allowed a small smile to show. "Because you want me to know, otherwise you wouldn't have deliberately set Nove up like that. You like your games, but they aren't any fun unless you have someone playing against you; you need an opponent. You have quite the plot brewing, but it means nothing unless you can show your opponents how badly they've been played with and beaten." She shrugged. "Or maybe your plot this time is so weak that you can't even give me hints."

Quattro laughed, a delicious cat-like grin appearing on her face. "Oh my my, you are quite interesting today. But how could I have a plot brewing when my IS is under strict control and my movement is closely monitored? Anything I did would be uncovered instantly."

"Not close enough, apparently," Teana accused, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hayate took you too lightly. You must have found some way to bypass her measures."

"What makes you think I did?" Quattro inquired, spreading her arms in front of her body in an exaggerated motion. "Maybe her majesty authorized everything I did?"

Teana's eyes narrowed. "Hayate wouldn't deliberately set Nove and Wendi up. You and I both know that."

Quattro shrugged. "Well, you have a problem, then. If I couldn't do it, and her majesty wouldn't authorize it, then there's no one left."

"You have someone helping you," Teana realized, her eyes widening. "Someone who can remain undetected in the system. Who?" When Quattro merely smiled instead of responding, Teana made a gun sign with her hand, pointing her finger at the cyborg's forehead while an orange ball of magic formed at the tip. "Tell me!"

Quattro's gaze didn't waver. "You'll never find out anything if you shoot me. And Hayate won't be too happy. She still wants me alive for some reason."

Teana's lip curled upward slightly in a snarl, the orange bullet floating there innocently as the two glared at each other for several moments. The gun mage debated releasing the shot, but then her hand lowered and the ball winked out of existence, before she turned to head back towards the door and dissolved the privacy barrier.

"Whatever you're planning, and whoever you're working for, I'll find out," Teana threatened over her shoulder, reaching out to tap the door controls.

Before she could hit them, Quattro spoke. "Since you came all this way and gave me an interesting visit, I'll tell you this much: I believe all of your sisters will be just fine, as long as you don't make too much of a fuss. You might want to take some time off to cool down and think things over." She shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

Teana didn't respond, but tapped the controls, feeling Quattro's smiling gaze on her back as the door closed behind her. As she figured, she didn't get much out of the cyborg, but then again, she didn't figure it was going to be that easy. Still, she did get a few tidbits; Quattro was definitely up to something, and she wasn't working alone. But who? She had betrayed her previous allies, and now Tre and Sette were dead, and the brain of Jail was locked up somewhere; that left too many questions.

Who else could Quattro be working with? And how was she contacting them without Hayate knowing? Or was Hayate involved in this? Could she still be working with Jail? Was it some kind of plot between them that included the Nanoha clone? Possibly to overthrow Hayate? If so, why now?

She didn't know, and some of those questions conflicted, but with the trial of her sisters coming up, she did know one thing: If Quattro was plotting to overthrow Hayate and Teana found that out, it would be easy to have her sisters cleared of all charges.

She started down the hall, vowing to do what it took to find the truth, no matter what it cost.

x~~*~~x

It was late afternoon when they reached the spot, Nanoha's eyes narrowing at the cross sticking upright in the middle of the meadow. As she suspected, she was placed up there, fulfilling the role of bait that the pair of bounty hunters had intended for her, but she was still unsure of exactly what prey they were seeking.

"Would you stop fiddling with that and give me a hand here?" Janja called to her partner as she continued chaining Nanoha to the cross.

Jarm didn't look up from where he sat at the edge of the clearing, continuing to work with something in his hands. "You're doing fine. I'm just a bit busy checking out this intelligent device of hers; it's quite a piece of work. You don't see craftsmanship like this often. I'm trying to see if I can adapt it to our needs, or if we'll just have to sell it. The operating system still has me locked out, however, so I might just have to format it."

Nanoha felt a chill go down her spine; Vivio's data was in there. She remembered Shari telling her once before that numerous safeguards had been placed that wouldn't allow anyone to use the device; it wouldn't do for a Bureau mage to have their own device used against them, after all. But if he simply wiped everything....

"You don't want to do that," Nanoha told him quickly. "The programming is a large part of the value. Without that, it's just a bunch of parts. And the Bureau will want that device intact as well; it's part of the reason they are after me. You don't want to be drafted into the army, right?"

"She's probably got a point," Janja seemed to agree, snapping the last chain into place. "It might be valuable, and this deal is gonna be tricky enough as is. Maybe you should hold off on that until after the trade, to see if we can get away with keeping it."

Jarm finally looked up and shrugged, then stood. "Fine, I won't format it just yet, but I still wanna tinker with it to see if I can get it working; I could still use a device. And hurry up and finish; it's about time that he comes to check up on her." With that, he turned and walked out of the clearing and into the forest, leaving Nanoha hoping he didn't trigger the safeguards that would erase Vivio's location from Raging Heart.

"Don't try anything funny, as we'll be watching you," Janja told her, giving Nanoha a smile as she gagged the bait-type mage, then floated down and left as well.

Despite the fact that Nanoha figured the two were watching her, she tested her binds; if they were magic, she could break them easily with a bit of time, but pure hardened steel was another matter. With the gag in place, she couldn't chant any spells, although if she concentrated hard enough, she might be able to form a Divine Shooter orb. The problem is that they could hit her with something the moment she tried. However, this entire "prey" business bothered her.

Who were they after? Was Erio following her? Garyu, being sent by Lutecia to keep an eye on her? If so, could she count on them saving her? Or should she try to get free on her own, to save them from whatever trap might be planned?

The choice was eventually taken out of her hands as a large shadow drifted over the clearing, blacking out the sun. Before Nanoha could wonder what it was, a powerful wind swept through the clearing to the sound of flapping wings, and then the caster of the shadow landed in front of her.

Nanoha stared at the familiar white muzzle of the large beast that studied her, leaning forward to take a few exploratory sniffs. [Fried! So this is who they were after? Wait, he was checking up on me? Odd that I never noticed....]

She strained and tried to shout to warn the dragon away, but he didn't seem to understand, although it looked like he realized she was trapped and was debating how to help her. However, before he could, dozens of red magical binding tentacles shot out of the ground and wrapped over his body, pulling him down to the ground. The great beast roared and thrashed, but more binds kept popping up, and soon he was completely immobilized.

"Hold him, Janja, while I administer the sedative!!" Jarm shouted, appearing in the air riding his gargoyle, aiming to land on the great dragon's back. "I'd rather take him alive; a live white dragon fetches a bit more money on the black market than a dead one."

"I'm trying!" Janja retorted, stepping into the clearing, her hands outstretched, her face dictating her obvious struggle. "But it's taking most of what I got just to hold him. Hurry up!"

Fried roared, his jaws opening and beginning to form a fire attack, but another circular bind promptly clamped it shut while Nanoha struggled against her own shackles. Then she fell limp, panting, trying to think of something, anything; she couldn't let Caro's dragon be taken like this! Horrified, she watched as Jarm produced a large syringe and prepared to stab Fried with it.

Time seemed to pause the needle slowly went down... and then it exploded to the sound of a gunshot, pieces of glass and liquid spreading outward to the surprised stares of all present.

Jarm dove off the dragon's back. "Goille, eypatch is back; get her!"

Just the gargoyle took off again, a second shot rang out, and Nanoha found her left arm chains shattered as something powerful whizzed past, recognizing it as another bullet in an instant; whoever was firing those was an ace shot.

Reacting quickly, Nanoha reached over and pulled the gag out of her mouth and began to chant. "Holy light, come to my hand. Under my guidance, reverberate through the sky! Divine Shooter, shoot!"

The shot fired straight forward, ripping through several of Fried's binds, and then making a quick U-turn to streak back towards Nanoha. Neither bounty hunter had been idle during this time, with Janja tossing up more binds to hold her target while Jarm shifted his attention to the captive in an attempt to stop her.

"Ancient stone weathered by time, gather and pierce!" came Jarm's voice, getting her attention. "Granite Spike!"

Nanoha grit her teeth as the rock stake flew towards her seemingly in slow motion, but Nanoha's spell was faster. She brought up her free arm to shield her eyes as her orb struck the spike at a 45 degree angle, pelting her body with debris from the enemy projectile, and then shot straight up Nanoha's front, splitting the chains as it brushed her body. She promptly dropped to the ground as Jarm prepared another spell, but she merely held up her hand and met his eyes, the pink ball now floating there between them.

My spell is faster than yours.

He got the message and took off running; Nanoha let him go, turning to face Janja instead, who had already realized what was going on. She dropped her attempts at maintaining the binds, and instead flew straight at Nanoha, skimming along the ground with both daggers out. Nanoha sent her orb at the other woman, but Janja simply sliced through it and continued on, giving her opponent no time to dodge.

But Nanoha didn't put a shield, either, surprising her adversary by grabbing Janja's wrists and allowing the woman's momentum to carry them both into the air, daggers inches from her neck. The pair struggled in mid-air as they flew, kicking, pushing and pulling, until Nanoha managed to get her left foot between them and shoved it into Janja's stomach, shoving her away. For a moment, the two women floated in mid-air, studying each other.

"I'm stronger than my brother," Janja declared, her lips turning into a hungry grin, almost appearing v. "And I have a device, while yours is still absent."

Nanoha realized there was truth in her words; Janja had to be at least A-rank, and her device appeared similar to Cross Mirage's dagger form, though less advanced, as it was split into two dagger handles from which red magical blades protruded. Nanoha guessed the bounty hunter had bought a lower cost storage device, but it still would allow her to process mana faster than Nanoha could.

However, Nanoha still held an advantage. "I've had a lot of students over the years who had similar feelings. I disillusioned them fairly quickly."

Nanoha canceled her flight magic and dropped from the air, forming her barrier jacket as the red electric attack barely grazed her. Janja wound up another shot while diving after her prey, but it struck the trees as Nanoha dropped below them, casting Flier Fin again just in time to skim along the forest floor. She wove in between the trees, using them to shield herself from the bounty hunter's attacks.

Passing in front of a thick oak to temporarily drop from Janja's line of sight, Nanoha focused her magic, forming several small orbs that encircled her wrists, then darted out again and trust out her right hand. "Crossfire SHOOT!"

Janja stopped quickly at the first shot, letting it fall short, then had to put up a round shield to block the second from Nanoha's right hand, but it succeeded in arresting her pursuit. The third and fourth shots from Nanoha's left hand shattered the shield and forced Janja out of the forest and back into the sky, reversing the chase. Nanoha took off after her, preparing four Divine Shooter orbs and sent them after Janja, but something else was waiting for her as she cleared the treetops.

A larger form shielded the bounty hunter and three of the orbs exploded against its hardened body, then the gargoyle dove for Nanoha, razor-sharp claws extended. The sky ace mage managed to roll in mid-air to barely avoid the gargoyle's dive, but the odds had definitely turned.

"Two against one, now!" Janja called gleefully.

As Nanoha grit her teeth and tried to keep both targets in view, a new female voice called out. "Make that two against two!" Fried came streaking out of nowhere heading straight for the gargoyle, a fedora and eyepatch wearing figure on his back who tossed something at Nanoha. "Here!"

Nanoha dove and caught it after Fried let loose a large fireball that struck the gargoyle head on, although it emerged singed as the pair entered their own mid-air fight. Nanoha took a look at the red jewel in her hands, and then formed her staff while giving Janja an even gaze.

"Raging Heart," she said simply.

"Buster mode," the device replied as it formed while Nanoha took her stance, magic circle flaring underneath her and pink energy gathering at the tip.

The bounty hunter's eyes widened, then she grit her teeth and slapped her two daggers together, side-by-side, fiery-red magic gathering at the tips. "I'm still stronger than you! Cardinal BURST!"

Before losing consciousness, Janja had the pleasure of knowing her crimson beam held off Nanoha's buster for all of 1.2 seconds.

x~~*~~x

"Any luck?" Yuuno asked as his wife fiddled with his collar, sitting on the bed in the corner of the room.

Shari sighed and put down the two metal, chopstick-like prongs. "None. Mariel made these things well. Without a key, I can't remove it; or at least better tools, which we don't have. I have to be careful not to trigger the explosive."

Yuuno glanced around the small underground room where they had been living the past couple of days; after their escape, Runessa had brought them here to hide. Although he wasn't entirely sure where they were due to all the twists and turns they took getting here, he had surmised it was several levels below Clanagan. It was supposedly where Runessa herself had been hiding in between running missions above, and although her current mission right now was safeguarding his wife and him, she didn't have access to a key to remove the collar and couldn't get better tools. She had told them before she had used up most of her tricks just getting into that detainment area.

"It is probably for the best at the moment," Runessa told them, coming into the living area from a side tunnel and heading for the small kitchenette to put the food down. "I was selected for this mission after they freed me from prison, because I do not have a linker core, and thus cannot be detected due to performing magic. With the collar on, you won't be tempted to do magic and thus will not bring attention to yourself."

Yuuno sighed and leaned back a bit as his wife wrapped her arms around him from behind. "All the same, I would like to get this thing off, just in case. When the time comes, I'd like to do what I can."

"Still cannot speak of it?" Runessa asked as she began preparing the ingredients for their dinner, to which Yuuno shook his head. "That is for the best; the cell system for resistance members is quite effective that way. As I said, my orders were simply to keep you hidden here, in addition to my standard reconnaissance trips."

Yuuno was well-acquainted with the time-honored cell system, where no one person or group had access to all information. Instead, they were told only what they needed to know for a current mission, so if some were captured, damage would be minimal. And as Yuuno well knew, the Bureau would get information out of people one way or another; enhanced interrogation techniques were in full force.

"So how long have you been down here?" Shari asked, changing the subject. "Can you speak of that? Last I heard, you had joined the church, and then were captured by Hayate during the war."

Runessa paused. "Yes. After my... actions regarding the mariage incident, the Saint Church came to me in prison and offered me the chance to repent for my sins. I was so full of anger and pain, but they helped me deal with it. And so I sided with them against the Bureau, but Teana captured me during the war. Someone broke me out of prison later, and I was brought down here to be an secret agent. That was almost 15 years ago."

"And you've been alone all this time?" Shari questioned, her tone softening.

"Mostly," she admitted, shrugging as she dropped numerous chopped up vegetables and meat into a pot. "But this is my penance. I have done horrible things, so this is the least I can do to make up for that. Sometimes I wish I could just go back in time and undo what I've done."

Yuuno glanced at Shari, who bit her lip, which told him she was thinking the same thing as him. But the sudden bout of silence made Runessa turn in their direction.

"What is it?" she inquired, curious, then smiled slightly. "Or have you actually found a way to go back in time?"

"That's a bit impossible, isn't it?" Yuuno joked, placing his hand behind his head and chuckling.

Runessa raised an eyebrow, then full smiled and shrugged. "I suppose it is. I admit it has been a silly wish of mine for some time, though. At any rate, your dinner is cooking; I apologize that it is not much, but I work with what I can find. I have already eaten and must return to my patrols, so I shall see you later."

The couple watched her go, and a few minutes after her departure, Shari finally spoke. "Do you think she knows?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to be careful," Yuuno stated, straining his ears, but only hearing the light bubbling of the stew in the pot sitting on the small stove. "We adopted the cell system for a reason; what we have to accomplish is too important to let anyone know the full details, even if she is the real Runessa."

"So you think she's not, too?" Shari questioned pensively.

"I admit I never really knew her well in the first place, so I can't say for sure," Yuuno admitted. "It would be a bit too roundabout for Hayate, as far as discovering what we know."

"Making us think we were free, in order to get us to spill what we know?" Shari suggested, raising en eyebrow. "You're right, that would be a bit of a stretch for Hayate, when she has more direct methods."

Yuuno stood up to go check on the stew, only meaningless cliche answers coming to him. "We'll just have to keep our eyes open."

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

What will Teana do? What is Quattro planning? And who is the mystery woman who rescued Nanoha? Tune in next time for a very special episode of Future Tense, tentatively titled "Family." And I promise it will be well worth it. ^_~

Been over two weeks since my last update, so sorry about that. But the good news is that the next chapter is mostly written, and thus I hope to get it out within a week. For those who have been keeping up with this, I promise the next chapter will be very special, and hopefully quite enjoyable.^^

Of course, the next few chapters after that should be quite interesting, too, heh....

Oh hell, that family is not just Nanoha and Vivio, but Fate too. They're finally going all out against each other next chapter, right? And considering that Fate had all those years to get better... Like that fight in season one, it will be experience versus willpower.

And something tells me that whatever Mariel planned for the Tome, it may... affect Hayate's mind. Like, if it removes all the knights and Reinforce, Hayate will go totally nuts.

__________________

I hate sad and bittersweet endings. Why? Because I think the real world is sad enough as it is. Must our stories be sad too?

I suddenly had the urge to write out an iPod shuffle challenge. When I wasn't even challenged. Oi.

Spoiler for Flicker:

01. Heroes – David Cook

It had never crossed Lutecia Alphine’s mind that she was a hero.

It was simply something she couldn’t grasp. She didn’t do heroic things; she had never gone out purposely to save someone, even when she had gone beyond her missions to protect an innocent, or a wounded comrade. So by the simple definition of the word, she wasn’t a hero.

She simply couldn’t be a hero. A hero wasn’t someone who sacrificed a few to save the many; a hero saved everyone, with no exceptions.

A hero was someone like Takamachi Nanoha.

And that was why, even when she knew it was impossible, Lutecia continued to chase after Nanoha’s shadow, even if she wasn’t consciously aware of it. That was why she had adopted so many of the other woman’s principles, and so rigidly followed her code.

Because even if she could never be a true hero, she still wanted to try.

And Nanoha was the best example she had.

02. Here I Am – Bryan Adams

Lutecia stared.

Blinked and stared some more.

“Um…. Vivio.” Cue small swallow. “What are you wearing?”

The younger girl smirked; oh, Lutecia knew she wasn’t a girl anymore, she was nineteen now. By law, she was a woman. That wasn’t the point.

“You like it?” With a happy laugh, the honey-blonde twirled slightly to show off the small, midriff-baring shirt and the tight jeans. “Lio and Corona wanted me to try it on, then they told me to buy it.”

I need to thank them later.

Lutecia gulped. “You look great,” she managed, trying her hardest to fight against the blush even as she saw the knowing gleam in Vivio’s eyes, the way the small smirk curved her lips.

She was so doomed tonight.

03. Lookin’ At You – Jason Michael Carroll

Vivio knew she probably should have been watching the movie.

She had every reason to; it was something she had wanted to see, something she had been talking about going to watch with her friends weeks, months even, before it came out. So all things considered, she should have been paying attention to the movie instead of staring at Lutecia.

She couldn’t help it, really. It wasn’t her fault that in the darkness, bathed in the light of a movie, her girlfriend looked so damned stunning. Purple strands of hair were caught in the film light and seemed to flutter, the older girl’s red eyes seeming deeper and calmer in the darkness. Even her skin looked different; softer somehow, a little paler, easier to touch.

Hastily, Vivio checked to make sure she wasn’t drooling. Sighing, she turned back to the movie, where the hot girl onscreen was passionately kissing some geeky boy who she had fallen in love with over the jock.

She only lasted a minute—two at the most—before her eyes drifted back to Lutecia.

04. Holding Out For A Hero – Frou Frou

“You know, she’s going down the suicide path.”

Victor blinked; it surprised him that Celica of all people had mentioned it. It was no secret that Lutecia was starting to burn out, but the other woman had never seemed to pay it much mind.

There was nothing but silence between the two of them after that; no questions of why he hadn’t tried to stop her, or why he had never said anything to someone else about it. They both knew that when they came to Lutecia, they wouldn’t be the ones to step in and save her when the time came.

Finally, Celica leaned back in her chair and sighed, rubbing her eyes.

“What does it say about us,” she mused, “when we’re waiting for a kid to be her savior?”

Victor said nothing.

05. Motherland – Crystal Kay

It soothed her to see Lutecia sleeping.

By a rule, Megane wasn’t the type to fret or worry too deeply over her daughter. She knew enough to tell that there was a wall up between her and Lutecia, and she respected the wall. She trusted her daughter enough to hope that one day, that wall would come down, when the time was right.

The wall that kept her from fully understanding why Lutecia often worked late into the night, or even into the early morning, and was always so quiet and contemplative after. The wall that kept her from really knowing much of anything about where the girl worked, or what she did, or the people around her.

The wall that had kept her from drawing Lutecia into her arms when the girl had come at seventeen, locked herself in her room, and cried alone for an hour into her pillow.

But that didn’t matter now, Megane thought as she gently brushed her fingers through Lutecia’s hair, smiling softly as the girl sighed out in her sleep. Lutecia was asleep at home, in her bed, and she was safe.

For now, the wall didn’t exist.

06. Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) – The Offspring

Lutecia watched as the waitress left the table, then sighed and leaned across the space, smacking Victor lightly over the head.

“Ow!”

“You’ll thank me for that later.” With another sigh, she slumped back into her seat, giving her partner a sour look as he grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Really, Storm. I know you’re single right now, but do you really need to flirt with every girl you meet?”

“Not every one,” he muttered. “Only the pretty ones.”

Lutecia groaned and thumped her head lightly against the table. “You aren’t cool,” she grumbled. “I hope you know that.”

“Hey, come on! I can always just say I’m creating new contacts for the next time we have a mission here!”

….

Lutecia thumped her head against the table again.

“Storm, we’re only eating lunch.”

“So?”

“… Never mind.”

07. Get Out Alive – Three Days Grace

“You know what, next time, I pick out the movie.”

It amused Vivio to no end that Lutecia hated scary movies. She didn’t know how that had happened or why; she just knew that for as long as she could remember, the older woman had always had a special, deep hatred for anything related to the horror or slasher genre of films.

“Sorry.” Smiling in the dark, she gently rubbed the back of Lutecia’s hand with her fingers. In front of them, Erio and Caro were absolutely glued to the screen, apparently enjoying every moment of the scenes.

Either that, or they were too scared to get far away from the TV screen.

Quietly, Lutecia knelt and gently pressed her finger to the dead rogue’s pulse; to be safe, she shifted and lightly touched his chest, feeling for a heartbeat or breathing. She waited five minutes, ten, fifteen, and finally pulled back. “He’s dead,” she said.

Victor grimaced and nodded. Neither of them ever liked these missions; it was always disturbing on some level, deeply disturbing, to hunt down a Shadow gone rogue. It was like looking into a broken mirror and seeing a fractured reflection staring back.

Running her hand through her hair, Lutecia bit her lip and sighed. “Let’s contact the others and let them know we got him,” she said at last, lowering her hand. “You can let the rest of the team know. I’ll call the Admiral.”

Victor had nothing to say, so he just nodded again and stepped back, giving his partner and the body some distance. Lutecia hesitated a moment before she gently pressed her fingers to the dead man’s eyes, closing the lids.

Lutecia yelped and scrambled to the side, moving as fast as her aching body would allow; the blur of darkness sped past her side and grazed her cheek. Feeling a sting and the light trickle of blood, the thirteen-year-old grimaced and swiped at her cheek.

Sighing, Miranda relaxed her stance. She wasn’t blind; she saw how the girl was sweating, how her legs trembled. Close quarters combat wasn’t Lutecia’s strength and probably never would be, though she was willing to train with the older woman. Grabbing a towel, she tossed it to the summoner. “Use that,” she said. “You’re trembling.”

“Sorry.” Lutecia caught it easily enough and grimaced as her arm screamed in agony. “I’m not good with hand-to-hand.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Miranda grabbed her water bottle and broke the cap, taking a long drink. “Just relax, Alphine. I know what I’m doin’.”

A purple eyebrow arched at this. “Oh?”

Miranda grinned; a quick flash of amusement that burned itself into Lutecia’s memory, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and her brown eyes gleaming.

“Yep. ‘Cause I ain’t always gonna be there to take the hits, you know?”

10. Goodbye To You – Michelle Branch

“Hey, Zest.”

It was a warm day, sunny, with birds singing in the sky; Lutecia neatly folded her legs and settled in the grass, leaning back and bracing her hands behind her.

“Sorry it took me so long to come visit,” she said. “I’ve been really busy. Work’s been crazy lately, and Vivio’s getting really excited for her homecoming dance.” She laughed sheepishly, scratching her cheek. “Mom’s aiming to get me into a suit before the night is over.”

There was, of course, no response. She didn’t expect one. Gently, she traced the words on the tombstone with her fingers.

“Agito’s doing well. She and Rein are still driving each other crazy.” She chuckled. “You should have seen it. The other day they got into this huge fight, and Agito actually sulked for a bit because Rein didn’t apologize. I swear, I can’t tell if they want to kiss each other or kill each other.”

She kept talking that way; describing small things, everyday occurrences, speaking of how everyone was and what had happened since that day he had fallen at Signum’s hand. She didn’t know how long she was there; just that she felt calm, and at peace.

After awhile, though, she knew she had to go. Slowly, she got to her feet. “I’ll come back soon,” she promised. “And I’ll bring some flowers next time. The batch Mom brought is starting to wilt.”

For a moment, she gently pressed her hand to the tombstone, absorbing its solid feel, the warmth beneath her palm; she pulled her hand away, and smiled softly.

“Talk to you later, Zest.”

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

1. For those who don't know, the idea behind the iPod shuffle challenge is to set your iPod on shuffle and, for the first ten songs you hear, write out ten drabbles to match the song. You must stop writing the drabble when the song ends, and continue on to the next one.

2. Yeah, I mainly enjoyed number 6 for getting to make the Victor joke. It's an old one. For some reason when I first started developing his character, I saw him as something of a womanizer. And the song was just too perfect...